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Homemade Breakfast Sausage Patties made with ground turkey (or ground meat of your choice), spices, and herbs, like sage, thyme, and fennel, a high protein breakfast that’s great for meal prep.
Healthy Breakfast Sausage Recipe
Making savory breakfast sausage patties from scratch is easy, and bonus: no processed ingredients! I made these for breakfast with cottage cheese scrambled eggs but they’d also be delicious with any breakfast For more homemade sausage recipes, try my Italian Turkey Sausage and Ground Turkey Chorizo.
Why This Works
I love these healthy homemade breakfast sausage patties. They’re perfect to make ahead and a great source of protein. Plus, making them from scratch means you know what’s in them!
- Perfect for Meal Prep: The sausage patties freeze and reheat well making them an easy breakfast option.
- High in Protein: Two patties have 15 grams of protein. Pair them with cottage cheese bagels or eggs to start your day with a breakfast that keeps you full and energized all morning.
- Dietary Restrictions: Weight Watchers-friendly, gluten-free, high-protein, dairy-free, and paleo and keto (if substituting sugar; see Variations below)
If you make this recipe for breakfast sausage, I would love to see it. Tag me in your photos or videos on Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook!
Breakfast Sausage Ingredients
I use a variety of spices for sausage to give it a complex flavor that tastes even better than anything you’d find at the supermarket. The recipe card below contains the exact measurements.
- Aromatics: Minced onion and garlic
- Seasoning: Kosher salt, black pepper
- Paprika: I use sweet, but you could use smoked paprika for a smokier flavor.
- Nutmeg for a warm, slightly nutty note
- Cayenne Pepper for a subtle kick of heat
- Herbs: Fennel seeds, thyme, and sage give breakfast sausage its distinct taste.
- Meat: You can use any ground meat, like lean ground turkey, chicken, bison, or pork.
- Red Wine Vinegar adds acidity and complexity.
- Sugar: A pinch of raw sugar provides a little sweetness.
How to Make Breakfast Sausage
I soften the onion and garlic and then toast the fennel seeds to add a depth of flavor you wouldn’t get by keeping them raw. This quick extra step is definitely worth it. Scroll to the bottom for the printable instructions.
- Saute the onions and garlic in olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium- low heat.
- Toast the Fennel Seeds: After 5 minutes, add the fennel and cook for a minute.
- Mix Everything Together: Combine the ground turkey, vinegar, thyme, sage, paprika, sugar, and nutmeg in a large bowl with the onion mixture. Form the mixture into patties and place on parchment paper.
- Cook the Breakfast Sausage in a skillet on medium-low heat for 3 minutes on each side. Once they have a brown crust, reduce the heat to low and cover, continuing to cook until the internal temperature reaches 165°F.
Variations
- Onions: Replace the onion with shallots.
- Herbs: Swap the thyme or sage with another herb, like chives, rosemary, or oregano.
- Fennel Seeds have a licorice flavor that not everyone enjoys. If you’re not a fan, omit them or substitute caraway seeds.
- Vinegar: Use white wine or apple cider vinegar.
- Sugar: For keto, substitute monk fruit, and for paleo, use maple syrup or honey. You can also skip it altogether.
- Cheese: Add shredded cheddar or mozzarella.
- Vegetables: Mix in diced, roasted red peppers.
What to Serve with Breakfast Sausage
- High-Protein Breakfast: Add the meat to an omelet or serve alongside scrambled eggs for a protein-packed start to your day.
- Breakfast Classics: I love to pair pancakes, waffles, and muffins with breakfast sausage for extra protein.
- Sausage Biscuit: Slice a biscuit like these cheddar biscuits (or English muffin) in half and top with a sausage patty and egg.
- Breakfast Casserole: Instead of shaping the meat into patties, brown it in a skillet, breaking it up as it cooks, and add it to any egg casserole that calls for sausage.
How to Store, Freeze and Reheat
- Meal Prep: Form the patties and refrigerate overnight before cooking them.
- Fridge: Once cooked, refrigerate in an airtight container for 4 to 5 days.
- Freezer: To freeze cooked sausage, wrap tightly in plastic and freeze for up to 3 months. To reheat, transfer to the refrigerator overnight, then warm in the microwave or air fryer. Or microwave them frozen for a little longer.
More High-Protein Breakfast Recipes You’ll Love
- Sausage, Cheese, and Veggie Breakfast Casserole
- High-Protein Whipped Cottage Cheese Bowls
- Breakfast Burritos
- Chorizo Egg Bites
- Banana Nut Protein Oats
Breakfast Sausage Recipe
Homemade Breakfast Sausage Patties made with ground turkey (or ground meat of your choice), spices, and herbs, like sage, thyme, and fennel, are high-protein and great for meal prep.
Yield: servings
Serving Size: 2 patties
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 small onion, minced
- 1 large garlic clove, chopped
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, and black pepper to taste, divided
- 1 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1 pound 93% lean ground turkey, our ground pork, bison, chicken
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika, or smoked paprika for a smokier flavor
- pinch sugar
- pinch nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional for spice
- olive oil spray
Instructions
- Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium low heat and add the oil, onions, 1/8 teaspoon salt and garlic and stir frequently, about 4-5 minutes, until onion is translucent. Lower heat, if needed, to avoid browning too quickly.
- Once onion is softened, add fennel and toss quickly until fragrant and toasted, about 1 minute. Remove mixture to a medium bowl to cool slightly.
- In a large bowl add the ground turkey or ground meat of your choice, red wine vinegar, thyme, sage, remaining salt, paprika, sugar and nutmeg to a large bowl with cooked onions, garlic and fennel and mix together with a fork until all ingredients are well-distributed.
- Form mixture into 8 even patties and lay on parchment or wax paper while working. If you want to make these for another day, they can be refrigerated or frozen.
- Spray a non-stick skillet with oil and set over medium-low heat. Once hot, brown turkey patties, in two batches, 3 minutes on each side.
- Once you have achieved a nice browned crust on each side, reduce heat to low and cover. Continue cooking until internal temperature reaches 165F.
- Remove from heat and repeat with second batch.
Last Step:
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Adapted by Jackie Ourman of CAFE, Celiac and Allergy Friendly Epicurian
Patties can be made a day ahead and refrigerated up to 4 days or can be frozen, cooked or uncooked up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Serving: 2 patties, Calories: 198 kcal, Carbohydrates: 4 g, Protein: 22 g, Fat: 11 g, Saturated Fat: 2.5 g, Cholesterol: 84 mg, Sodium: 290.5 mg, Fiber: 1 g, Sugar: 1 g
Great recipe! I like to double the recipe, and freeze the patties. This way we always have some to ready.
Great recipe. I’m following weightwatchers, so this is a great addition to my “no points” menu. I’m not a fennel fan, so just omitted it and added a bit more sage. I bake 2oz patties on parchment, so no additional oil and freeze the extras. Perfect, chopped into my morning scramble!!
This recipe is fantastic. We make a batch on Sunday and instead of making in to patties we brown and crumble it, cooking it with diced pepper and onion. We store it in the fridge and use it to make diy Just Crack an Egg Cups. Its delicious!!
Love this. I make a double batch and keep these in my freezer for when ever needed.
I made a double batch and because the mixture looked quite sticky I spread it in a small parchment-lined sheet pan and cooked it in the convection oven. After baking I cut it into squares. I didn’t have fresh herbs, so I had to estimate dried herbs.
This recipe is solid. I actually did mine in air fryer for 10 minutes @ 375° and made them breakfast sausage meatballs instead patties.
I was wondering if you could air fry these.
Love this recipe – so easy and SO good. I add some red pepper flakes because I like a little spice.
This is o good
Made these today and they are great! Fun to make my own sausage, thanks for the great recipe!
Love these with two eggs for a high protein Zero WW point breakfast.
Great recipe! So flavorful! I am looking for ways to increase my protein intake and these are a perfect addition!
Delicious. I didn’t have fresh sage so I substituted fresh Rosemary and it was great. Easy to prepare, lots of protein and hardly any carbs.
Absolutely delicious as written! I think the fennel really makes it perfect. I subbed dried sage and thyme from my own garden, and used about half as much as the recipe call for fresh.
Can you make in the air fryer? Thank you!!
Hello, why aren’t the WW points up to date? With the new changes, this recipe should reflect 0 points, no? Thank you.
I’m allergic to paprika. Do you have any suggestions for a good alternative?
Just add more herbs
There is a problem with the WW points. I noticed the same issue on the Turkey Meatball Stroganoff recipe. If you go to the WW page, it shows the updated points for the ingredients, but does not show the correct total # of points. I suspect this is a WW issue, rather than yours. But I thought that it would be helpful to know about the issue. The updated point value should be 0 instead of 3 because with zero points for the ground meat the only points in recipe are from a single tsp of olive oil divided by 4 servings.
thank you!
Easy and delicious !
Thank you very much for your recipe 😍
Love having these in the freezer too to go along with breakfast. I just made tiny ones to have in egg muffin sandwiches. A favorite
After making one batch, having our friends try them, we think they are adequate but mediocre. Modified the recipe using sea salt (Instead of kosher), 1/4 lb of ground lean pork, and a pinch of cayenne pepper, we and our friends loved them.
Hi Gina, thanks for helping me with my love of sausage and providing a healthy alternative. Made the breakfast sausage this morning, super good. Next the inside out turkey cheeseburger for dinner. Can’t wait. Thanks for being there for us during such difficult times.. cooking is my new hobby!
I’ve made these many times and they are always awesome. I just got an air fryer so I’m going to try them in there today. I’m hoping 400 for 10 minutes will be good.
What I am doing wrong if my patties keep falling apart when I try to turn them? They don’t seem to bind well for me. The same thing happened to my Salisbury steak.
Maybe you are turning them too quickly before they are brown enough? I found they turn better if they are truly crispy underneath. Also, if you are not using a non-stick pan and have to scrape rather than gently flip that may be the problem. One of my patties was falling apart a little on the edge the first time I made them, too.
Delicious! Doesn’t have a typical flavor of breakfast sausage and could easily be used for a turkey burger. I often make these with a fried egg on top and sprinkle a little feta cheese. I cooked 3 min a side and finished in the oven (5 min on 250).
Terrific, so much better then anything that you can buy. Will try to keep them in freezer ready to go. I made them small and got 14 of them and it is a nice size for just a touch of sausage added to a breakfast sandwich. or what ever dish making. Seasonings were wonderful plus added a bit of Penzey sausage seasoning too. So much better being able to cut the salt to a reasonable level. I cook for my mom too that needs to have a low sodium diet and it helps to make your own foods. Thank You!
Ground fennel seed or whole?! Stumped…
I just made these! They are really really good. I added a bit more of the spices and that really bumped up the flavor a bit. Love!
I made these this morning and they were really good but next time I would up the seasoning a bit.
This was not flavorful enough for me and I didn't think the vinegar works either. Wholefoods has a great turkey breakfast sausage recipe.
What's the best way of freezing something like this? I'm the only one who would eat sausage, but that's a lot of sausage for one person!
Saute first, then freeze? If so, what's the best way to reheat? Any advice from anyone would be great. <3
I have not made this particular turkey sausage but I have made The Yummy Life (she gives very detailed instructions) turkey sausage patties and you would make and cook each patty then place in freezer on a baking sheet. Once frozen transfer to a freezer bag. Microwave on 50 % power for 1 minute and flip and cook another 30 seconds or so…you just need to thaw and reheat gently. Works great. Ellen Renee
Truly this looks to enhance my taste buds….It is 2015 and gadgets are taking over the age old recipes as well . Found this great blog
https://potsknivesandrecipes.wordpress.com/ which has great information.
Yummy!! We love to have turkey sausage for breakfast. I'd love to have a healthy version. Can't wait to try them!!
Yum! Looks amazing. Always looking for something different to do with ground turkey!
Ahh, looks so delicious!
http://thejoycediaries.blogspot.com
I found a recipe for turkey sausage last year which was wonderful but I lost it. Tried searching on line but nothing sounded close. This one does so I am really happy to have a recipe for turkey sausage again. I have been able to get my "red meat" hubby to enjoy turkey chili and the turkey sausage I made last year, so I know he will like this recipe. ?
Well, these look delicious! Perfect breakfast idea!
www.shopsaul.blogspot.com
No recipe is written in stone. Salt is usually "to taste." I buy low sodium or unsalted everything. Then I can salt to my taste. Don't be afraid to modify to whatever you like. Gina knows what she likes and she knows what she's doing.
Thanks, and yes modify however you wish! Add cheese, roasted pepper, etc make it your own.
Oh, great recipe! I don't buy a lot of turkey sausage because of all the extra junk some have in them. This is the perfect solution. I am pinning this! Thanks to Jackie for sharing.
I don't buy sausage for the same reason. I am looking forward to making these!
If I have ground deer meet, could that be used in the place of the turkey?
Sure!
This sounds amazing! I've never made my own sausage patties before.
Does the recipe call for fresh or dried chives? Can't wait to try this recipe – so healthy!
fresh
I am so anxious to try this recipe as it does not contain sage. Sage is one spice I do not like. This recipe looks and sounds great! Thanks so much!
You can honestly modify this with any herbs.
Haha…I was going to omit the nutmeg and add sage because I hate nutmeg!
I so don’t like nutmeg, tarragon or sage… what can I use?
These sound great, can't wait to try it out!
Looks amazing and so simple!
just made these and love them! love the reduced points by not using bread crumbs or eggs. the only thing i would modify for next time is adding some salt/pepper. i do feel that was definitely missing in these.
there is salt & pepper in the list of ingredients.
Yes, it's in the ingredients. Jackie used 1 tsp kosher salt in hers.
my mistake, i'm making these for the 3rd time now. absolutey love them
also wanted to add that these go great with Harissa Eggs in Purgatory which I've made at least a half a dozen times. and Gina thank you, I've gone from a size 12 to a size 6 in 3 months from cooking your recipes.
Always love having sausages for breakfast with my eggs and pancakes. Never thought about making them myself. I usually just buy them pre-made but this is a great idea for those nice weekend mornings. Thanks for sharing.
To buy breakfast-spiced turkey sausage in the grocery store is so expensive but I would definitely buy some ground turkey in bulk and use this recipe. The patties would freeze great!
These look great! I'm off tomorrow for Presidents Day (hubby unfortunately isn't) and I have all the ingredients on hand so I think I'll get up early and surprise him with breakfast. I'll be excited to try this like a bulk sausage and use in an egg casserole too. Thank you so much!
Great idea on the bulk in casseroles !!
Thanks
Mmmmm this sounds great! I like the herbs and spices used, I might try my hands on making some veggie ones 🙂 Thanks for the heads up! x